Method of repairing sheet metal and means therefor



L` SELNICK Dec. 4, 1962 METHOD oE REPAIRING SHEET METAL AND MEANS THEREEOR Filed Jan. 25', 1960 JNVENTOR. ou/5 #5H-Wag ...n :n ...l

United rates Patent Oiitice liflg Patented Dec. 4, i962 3,6655@ MEE-IUD @E REPAlRlNG SHEET METAL AND MEANS THEREFUR Louis Selniclr, 223.3 S. (Central Ave., llos Angeles l1, Calif. Filed lan. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 4,3m) l@ Claims. (fCl. 153-22) This invention generally relates to metal working and more particularly to dies for use in repairing damaged sheet metal skins of vehicles.

The most widespread use of apparatus incorporating the principles of the present invention is in ,automobile body and fender repair work. lf damage is severe, usually the damaged portion, eg., a fender, is partially straightened with the use of jacks and heavy hammers. Then, any torn metal is welded together. At this point, the artisan uses a bumping hammer and a pick and finish hammer in combination with a steel backing swage, called a dolly, to further shape the metal work. Then, with the use of solder and a metal rasp or sander in conjunction with the hammer and dolly, the craftsman brings the exterior surface to the proper finished configuration.

When the damage is not so severe, only the latter steps are used. However, in either situation, the presently used procedure not only consumes large amounts of time, but requires a great deal of skill on the part of the person performing the repair and finishing operation.

Embodiments of the present invention materially reduce the time and skill required in such metal work by providing for each model of automobile a die having an interior surface which is the complement of the undamaged exterior conguration of such portions of the auto body, as are subject to frequent damage. The die may be attached to and cover only a section of the auto, such as one fender, or it may cover the whole side of the vehicle. ln either case, it does not require much sliill or time to reform the damaged body metal to the shape of the die and thereby restore the proper exterior configuration.

.fn practice, various shaped metal working hammers are most often used to pound the damaged portion of the sheet metal against the die and, therefore, the die must e relatively thick and heavy in order to absorb the hammer blows. if such a die were made of only one piece, it would require a crane or similar apparatus in order to move it around in the workshop and to position it on the car. Therefore, dies incorporating the present. invention are made of a plurality of individually portable sections which have means by which they may be atand to the automobile. Thereby, a single workman may form an integral die covering a large section of the automobile to obtain the advantage mentioned above and then disassemble the die for storage after the work is completed.

Bearing in mind the foregoing, it is a major object of this invention to provide an improved means for Working and shaping sheet metal rirticles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a die for use in shaping sheet metal workpieces which cannot be movedt the die.

A further ob" t of this invention is to method of rep ig damaged sheet metal.

it is `an additional object of this invention to provide apparatus which will reduce the time and skill required to malte sheet metal repairs on automobile fenders and bodies and the like.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent in the detailed description below in conjunction with the attached drawings, wherein:

FEC-URE l is a pictorial view of an automobile havprovide a better ing attached to it a multi-section die constructed according to the present invention.

FlGURE 2 is a cross sectional view along line 2-2 of the fender of the automobile in FIGURE l.

FlGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional View illustrating a second embodiment of this invention attached to the auto fender.

FGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of the portion of FIGURE 3 indicated by curved arrow 4.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional View illustrating means for pulling a damaged portion of the fender to the die.

FiGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional View of the means encircled by curved arrow 6 in FIG- URE 5.

Referring now to FlGURE l, an automobile lll is shown having a multi-section die 11 attached to it. The die .il comprises many individual sections which are attached together by means, such as bolts, to form an integral die covering in general a portion of a work piece, in particular the right front fender and the side of the auto 1li.

The manner in which the dilerent sections of the die 11 are attached together and to the automobile lll may vary according to the individual situation. Referring now to FIGURE 2, details of a preferred manner in which the sections are attached together and to fender i3 are disclosed. Here is shown an intermediate die section la, having an upper die section l5 and a lower die section i6 in contiguous relation with its upper and lower longitudinal sides, respectively. Although, the die sections other than these three may differ in their specific configurations, they are substantially equivalent in so far as the material aspects of my invention are concerned. Therefore, they are not illustrated and described in detail.

In order to attach the upper section 15 to the fender i3, the section is provided with a return 18 extending along the side adjacent the engine compartment. The return 18 extends around strengthening liange 19 on the fender 13 and carries a series of spaced screws 20 which may be tightened to thrust against a series of pressure blocks 21 to clamp the section 15 securely to the fender 13.

For the purpose of attaching the sections 14 and 15 together, each of the sections is provided with assembling means comprising longitudinal anges 24 and 25 located on the contiguous edges of these sections. The flanges 24 and 25 have a plurality of coincident holes to receive bolts 26 having nuts 27 thereon to pull the sections together. Often, the damage to the fender will prevent the sections from being aligned by hand. Therefore, each of the bolts is somewhat smaller than the associated holes in the flanges 24 and 25 and its length is substantially greater than the combined thickness of these flanges. This arrangement allows the bolts 26 to -be located in operative position even though the sections 14 and 15 initially are not aligned and immediately adjacent one another.

A series of tapered tongues 28 and correlative tapered grooves 29 comprising alognment means are formed on the contiguous edges of the sections 15 and i4, respectively. These elements perform the important function of aligning the operative or forming surfaces 70 of adjacent sections, as they are pulled together by the nuts 27.

The lower edges of fenders on most modern cars are rolled, as indicated at 31. Therefore, in order to secure the lower edge of the die 11 to the fender i3, the lower section 16 has along its lower edge a return 32 extending around the rolled edge 31. The return 32 carries a plurality of screws 33 which, through pressure blocks 34, clamp the rolled edge 31 against the re-entrant surface formed 'by the return 32. It may be seen that, if the rolled edge 3l has been sprung due to the damage, the screws 33 will force it back to its proper shape.

K For the purpose of attaching sections 14 and 16 together, each of the sections is provided with assembling means comprising longitudinal fianges 35 and 36 provided on the contiguous edges of these sections. Each of flanges 35 and 36 is provided with a pair of coincident holes through which bolts 26 extend and receive nuts 27. As in the case of flanges 24 and 25, each bolt Z6' is substantially smaller than the hole through which it extends and substantially longer than the combined thickness of flanges 35 and 36. Thereby, the bolts 26 may be located in operative position even though the die sections cannot be initally aligned because of the damage to the fender i3.

` To illustrate another means for aligning two adjacent sections, one of a series of tapered dowel pins 41 affixed in the section 14 is shown located in one of a series of correlative tapered cavities 42.

In order to attach each of die sections f4, l5, and 16 to those which are forward and rearward, respectively, each section has a transverse flange extending along the front and rear edges of the sections as, for example, transverse flange 43 on the rear edge of section 14. Each pair of adjoining flanges is formed with alignment means comprising mating tongues and grooves, as shown at 28 and 29 or alternatively with tapered dowel pins, as shown at 4l, and are secured together by bolts and nuts 26 and Z7.

After the sections have been installed and attached together and to the automobile l0, the workman merely reaches inside the tire well and pounds the fender 13 into the shape of the die thus formed. Since the die is the complement of the desired end configuration, relatively little time and skill is required to reshape the sheet metal.

In some cases, no edge is available for attaching purposes or the inner side of the sheet metal is not accessible, practicably speaking. Die sctions 45 and 46 shown in FIGURES 3 to 6, have additional features which are useful in such cases. Such sections have a series of holes 47 formed therethrough between the forming surface 70 and the opposed accessible surface 7l which are distributed over the areas of the die sections. The holes 47 are normally closed by plugs 48 which are threaded into the holes until the ends of the plugs are substantially fiush with the inner or forming surfaces 76 of the sections.

A manner of attachment using one of the holes 47 in section 45 is shown in further detail in FIGURE 4. There, it may be seen that a bore 49 is formed through the fender 13 in a position coincident with the hole 47. Then, the particular die section may be attached to the fender by inserting a sheet metal screw 56, carrying a washer 51 and threading the screw into the oore 49, as illustrated.

In FIGURE 3, the portion shown at 52 exemplifies a damaged section which is impossible or undesirable to pound out. For such situations, at the time of manufacture, the sections 45 and 46 are provided with a plurality of inclined passages 53 connecting the forming surface 70 with the opposed accessible surface 71 which are dispersed over the area of the sections at desired points. These passages are normally closed by plugs 54 and are used to facilitate repair in the following way.

The plug 54 is removed from the passage or sprue 53 at the upper end of the damaged portion 52. Then, solder or an epoxy resin S is poured into the cavity between the damaged portion and the die section 45. After the solder has cooled, the section 45 is removed. This operation leaves a surface which needs only a minimum of further preparation for painting, since sec- A. tion 45 and plug 48 form a surface which is the complement of the desired final configuration.

The holes 47 are also useful when the inner side of a dent, e.g., dented area 66 in the automobile sheet metal is inaccessible and it is undesirable to fill a dented area with solder, such as dented portion 52. FIGURES 5 and 6 show a compound screw 62. used as a pulling member in conjunction with the hole 47 to pull such a dented area back to its proper position in contact with the die section. The compound screw 62 has a sheet metal thread 63 at its reduced inner end with a regular thread 64 along its intermediate portion and a wrench receiving square 65 at its other end. A nut 66 is threaded on the thread 64 with a washer 67 located as shown to facilitate rotation of the nut when it pushes against the die section 45, as described below.

In practice, the workman removes the plug 43 from the hole 47 which is near the center of the dent area 60 and he drills a bore 68 through the sheet metal skin, as shown. Then, with the nut 66 backed to the outer end of the thread 64, the screw 62 is inserted through the hole 47 and, by turning the square 65, sheet metal thread 63 is threaded into the hole 68. At this point, with the wrench on the square 65 preventing the screw 62 from rotating, the nut 66 is turned, moving it to the right against section 45 through washer 67. This action draws the screw 62 outwardly to the left, pulling the dented area 60 outward into contact with forming surface 70 of the die section d5.

Each set of die sections is produced for a particular model automobile. Therefore, by prior inspection I can determine which portions of the particular model cannot be reached from the inner side or are not adjacent an edge of the skin` Therefore, I distribute the holes 47 and passages 53 both of which I refer to generically as access ports so that they will cover such areas adequately and it will be certain that at least one will be located at the proper position of the damaged portion.

While only a few forms of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such is by way of illustration only and that numerous changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is my intention that the invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. For repairing in situ a damaged work piece having a sheet metal skin of finite dimensions, a die comprising: a plurality of individually portable die sections attached t0- gether and extending between at least two opposed edges of said work piece, alignment means on said sections aligning them so that their faces form a continuous forming surface which is the complement of the configuration of the skin of the work piece in its undamaged condition, at least some of the sections which are located along the edges of the sheet metal having returns wrapped around those edges, and means on said returns for attaching the last mentioned sections to the skin to support the die on said work piece during the repair operation.

2. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration of the automobile body surface; and means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, at least one of said sections having a hole therethrough adjacent the damaged portion of the body surface providing access from the exterior of the die to the damaged body surface to effect repair thereof.

3. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration o the automobile body surface; and means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, at least one of said sections having a hole therethrough adjacent the damaged portion of the body surface forming a sprue for the insertion of a filler material between the surface of the die and the damaged surface of the body to build up the body surface to the surface of the die.

4. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising; a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior Surfaces of said sec tions being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired nal configuration of the automobile body surface; means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, at least one of said sections having a hole therethrough adjacent the damaged portion of the body surface forming a sprue for the insertion of a filler material between the surface of the die and the damaged surface of the body to build up the body surface to the surface of the die, said sprue hole being inclined downwardly from its exterior entrance to its opening into the space between the die and the damaged body surface.

5. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outher surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration of the automobile body surface; and means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, said means for attaching the die sections to the automobile body for the support of the die thereon including portions on the extreme sections extending around the body skin to the back surface thereof and having clamping means engaging the back surface of the body skin.

6. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections -being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration of the automobile body surface; means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, at least one of said sections having a hole therethrough adjacent the damaged portion of the body surface; and a pulling member inserted through said hole and engageahle directly with the skin of the automobile body for pulling the same forwardly into engagement with the working surface of the die.

7. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body comprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration of the automobile body surface; means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them to the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation, at least one of said sections having a hole therethrough adjacent the damaged portion of the body surface; and a pulling member inserted through said hole and engageahle directly with the skin of the automobile body for pulling the same forwardly into engagement with the Working surface of the die, said pulling member including a compound screw having a sheet metal thread portion screwing into the body skin and a machine thread portion extending beyond the outer surface of the die member and carrying a nut thereat bearing against the outer surface of the die to pull the schew and the body skin forwardly.

8. The method of repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body including the steps of: sequentially locating individual portable die sections on and attaching them to said skin in supported relation and to each other in alignment so that their inner faces form a continuous working surface having a configuration which is a complement of the skin in its undamaged condition; hammering the damaged portion of said skin outwardly into contact with the inner faces of the die sections where it will have an exterior configuration which is the same as its undamaged configuration; inserting filling material adhering to the outer surface of the body skin into any space remaining between the inner surfaces of said die sections: and the outer surface of said skin to restore the external configuration of the skin; and thereafter removing said die sections.

9. The method of repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body including the steps of: sequentially locating individual portable die sections on and attaching them to said skin in supported relation and to each other in alignment so that their inner faces form a continuous Working surface having a configuration which is a complement of the skin in its undamaged condition; inserting filling material adhering to the outer surface of said body skin into the space between the inner working surfaces of said die sections and the outer surface of the skin to restore the external configuration of the skin; and thereafter removing said die sections from the body.

10. A multi-section die for repairing a damaged portion of the sheet metal skin of an automobile body cornprising: a plurality of die sections individually portable and individually locatable upon the outer surface of the body opposite a damaged portion thereof; means on said sections for attaching them together in contiguous relation to form a continuous die, the interior surfaces of said sections being shaped to form a continuous forming surface when the sections are assembled together Which is a complement to the original and desired final configuration of the automobile body surface; means on at least certain of said sections for attaching them on the body surface to support the entire die upon the automobile body during the repairing operation; a plurality of access ports through at least one of said sections dis- 7 tributed o ver said one section, at least one of said ports being opposite a damaged portion of said skin; and pulling means extending through said last-mentioned port and attached to the` damaged portion of the skin for pulling theV damaged portion of the skin into contact with the forming surface.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Countryman Aug. 6, 1935 Meinhardt Feb. 27, 1940 Voges Mar. 26, 1940 Hinton Nov. 25, 1941 Kelley Aug. 3, 1948` Leutheuser Dec. 6, 1949 Schwartz et al May 25, 1954 Edwards Nov. 27, 1956 Priest Dec. 9, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Jan. 4, 1954 

